Age or Reason

Hilley, Jason [essay 1.1]

The Meaning of Reason in The Age of Reason,

Moliere’s Tartuffe and Racine’s Phaedra

The definition of reason has not changed very much over the years. The definition has ranged from a rational motive to a belief or an action to an advocated use of reason and individualism instead of tradition and established principle. During The Age of Reason, reason was defined as the source of truth. The belief of the word reason seemed to mean a lot more to the society of the Enlightenment Period than those of today’s beliefs. In the plays Tartuffe and Phaedra, reason plays the role in both plays as characters try to determine legitimacy and authority throughout. Everything that happened during this period of time had a rational or reasonable explanation. The purpose of this essay is to write about what Reason meant to the time period, what people actually felt about Reason back then, and finally how Reason is a major part of both of these plays.

The word reason during the Enlightenment Period (also known as The Age of Reason) meant everything had a rational explanation, emphasizing social conditions rather than specific philosophies. During the time period, the new definition of reason went against religious beliefs and teachings. One could view that the word reason as a turning point in society. Whether what happened was good or evil, it had a rational explanation and determined the way one viewed himself or herself. In the Enlightenment period it seemed that logic could be a powerful avenue to truth. Logic alone could be used to defend all sorts of absurd notions; and Enlightenment thinkers insisted on combining it with something they called "reason" which consisted of common sense, observation, and their own unacknowledged prejudices in favor of skepticism and freedom. Reason had traditionally been assumed to be the highest mental faculty, but in this period many thinkers considered it a sufficient guide in all areas. Both religious belief...